Meal planning

I was recently asked about how I plan meals, but after thinking about it for a bit I realised that I don't have one set way of doing things.

How do you usually go about deciding what you will eat and when you will eat it?
Do you make lists of what's in the fridge and freezer?
Do you have a general idea of what you will make or do you decide as you are cooking?
Do you buy ingredients especially so you can make a certain dish?
Do you try to come up with recipes using what's in the fridge and cupboards?
Do you write out meal plans and then stick to them?

As for me, well I think I do everything that I just wrote.lol

I like writing lists, I like trying to be creative with using what stuff I have lying around, I like using new recipes, and while it might sound a bit contradictive, I also like having things planned out and being organised, especially on the days that I have something on. Like when I was going to the dentist I would get an order delivered that day and have my meals planned out so I didn't have to think or go shopping on the way home.

I do write out meal plans (usually for 3 days at a time, coinciding with when I have a delivery order), but I don't do it for meals every single day.

How do you go about deciding your meals?

Things I love Thursday

Things I am loving this week:

• Getting surprise e-mails from old friends
• Having dreams and actually remembering what they were about
• Phone calls from home
• A clean house
• Getting to know other bloggers
• Kids doing what they are told (apart from the road and conbini saga.lol)
• Being Australian (Happy Australia Day btw!)
• My numbers coming up 4 times in the 年賀状 lottery (with a prize of a stamp sheet).

What are you loving this week?

白菜のミルク煮

Just tried out this really simple recipe tonight and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share.

白菜のミルク煮 (4人分)

Hakusai　(1/4)
Bacon (as much as you want! I used about 4 slices worth)
Milk (400ml)
Water (200ml)
Chicken stock (1 cube)

Roughly cut up the hakusai and bacon.
Mix the water, milk and chicken stock cube for the soup.

Cook the bacon in olive oil, add the hakusai then the soup.
Cook (I did it on 4 on the IH cooker) so medium heat I guess, for 10-15 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and maybe parsley if you have some.
Enjoy!　

It was so quick and simple I will be making it again soon I think.
Great for milk loving families like us!!lol

Coping with kids

Sometimes I wonder if I must be crazy wanting more kids.
How on earth am I going to be able to handle it?
I know there are people out there with it much harder than me, I don't know how they cope.

Take today for instance.
I needed to get to an ATM to deposit some money in an account by today at the latest. Normally I would just drive to the bank and be done with it but I wanted to get out in the sun for a bit and thought walking could be a good option. Had a think about what the best way to go about it would be, decided to strap A on my front and walk to the conbini and pay the extra fee and do it there.

Everything started out ok, B holding my hand and walking beside me, A weighing a tonne, B stopping to pick up leaves on the way, and we eventually made it to the conbini. Nice happy families. Got inside and things went just as they always do. Nothing unexpected there.

B deciding to get a basket and start shopping by himself as I was stuck standing at the ATM machine, ignoring my pleas for him to come over here with Mummy please. B insisting he had to shut and open the doors for every customer who came in. B suddenly holding his pants and yelling 'wee wee 行きたい'(luckily that was just as I was finishing up at the ATM). B insisting he would hold the basket, put everything in it, and lift it up onto the counter all by himself. B yelling 'だめ！自分でする！' to the shop assistant who tries to help. B taking the bag of shopping off the assistant when it was packed. B then proceeding to go to, open, and about to go out!! the door while I'm stuck at the cash register. He turned around before he went out though to see if I was watching (which I was of course!) and came back over to where I was though, so I will give him some credit for that. Ahh, the joys of going shopping with a 3 year old...I know he means well and is so proud of himself that he's a big boy now and can do things just like Mummy does, and he thinks he is helping me out so continually makes comments like 'B君強いね','B君重い！でも頑張るよ' which mean something like 'look how strong I am', and 'It's heavy, but I can do it'. And of course refuses all offers for me to help.

So that part was pretty much to be expected.
It's the bit that comes next that worries me.

Walked back most of the way home (with B carrying the bag of shopping, of course!) and then he decided he wasn't going to hold my hand anymore. There was only about 10m before we were home so I gave in and said ok, but be careful and whatever you do DO NOT GO ON THE ROAD! It's not a busy road by any means and I was right beside him and the footpath is really wide so I thought it would be ok. The next second he runs on to the road. (No cars at this point) Run after him, grab him, take him back to the footpath where he chucks a willy and is lying down going psycho. Try to talk sense into him (is that even possible at 3??), and after a minute or so he settles down enough for him to stand up (I was still crouching down with A on my front trying to get up). Then he runs onto the road again to the exact same spot where I dragged him from a couple of minutes earlier. Only this time cars were coming!!! I don't know how but I somehow managed to get up, run after him, grab him in a bear hug (squashing A in the process, she was on my front, remember)and get him out of the way just in time (the car had seen us and was swerving out of the way), but OH MY GOD!!!!!

I bearhugged him the rest of the way home (kicking and screaming of course), carried him, A, my bag and the shopping up the stairs home, that's probably about 25kg btw (who needs to do weightlifting when you've got kids, hey), unlocked the door, got in and chained it before putting him down, then he screamed and carried on for another half hour after that. I knew that if I didn't chain the door he would be trying to go back and do it all again. It's like he has an obsession with things having to be done in a particular way and once he's got his mind set on something then he just completely turns off and will not listen to anything I say. He has never run out like that onto the road before, but there's no way I'm trusting him from now on.

How do people cope with more than 2 kids?
Seriously.
When does it get better? Or doesn't it?

Comments

Just trying to reply to some recent comments here, cause I'm not sure if people are reading the replies to comments I have written on older posts.

What is the protocol for replying to comments btw? Personally, do you come back and check previous posts or are follow-up comments e-mailed to you if you commented? Is there even that choice on this blog? Sorry I can't tell. Like the word verification thing, that never came up for me when I commented here, but it was on for other people.

So anyway, here are some recent thoughts on comments people have made.
You'll know who you are so I'm not bothering with names here!lol

Carrying shopping while holding kids is a huge challenge and the main reason I started getting shopping delivered. It was ok when there was just B, but got really hard towards the end of pregnancy number 2 so that's when I started looking around for this type of service. I joined up when my Mum went home when A was just over a month old, and get stuff delivered at least once a week, usually twice.

Along with normal groceries, they also have kits for cooking. Everything you need (and a recipe) for a certain dish is included, and all the veges are cut up for you. It works out more to buy things this way, but it has been a saviour in this household, especially after A was born and I had NO time for preparing. That's the main reason I wrote that my budget would be 8,000 yen while pregnant and after giving birth, because I plan on buying some of the sets each week. You still have to cook everything, just no mucking around with cutting things up and going shopping for a bit of this and a bit of that.

Milk consumption.
And buying shares in a cow.lol

We go through at least a litre of milk a day, more if I use it in cooking, so that's a minimum of 7 litres a week, usually 8. Plus I buy banana milk as a treat for the kids once or twice a week so there's another litre or too just for that. Cosmos sell milk for 168 yen a litre, that's the cheapest I've found anywhere. The delivery people sell it for 198 yen so I normally buy 2 or 3 litres from them if I have an order, and all the rest I buy at Cosmos.

Bread.
Bakeries are dangerous places for me, so I try to avoid going if I can.lol
The whole breadmaker versus buying thing is a hot topic at the moment.
We go through a lot of 食パン, but maybe the breadmaker wouldn't benefit us so much. Well not budget wise, although it probably would taste wise.lol

Rice.
How much rice does everyone go through? And what do you pay for it?
I buy 10kg for 2,980 yen (That's when it's on sale. It's pretty much 3,600 yen wherever you go most of the time, and it's a brand of rice we like). It usually lasts just over 2 weeks. We would be stretching it to the max for it to last for 3 weeks.

And angel card readings.
This is something I have only recently discovered and am a beginner with a capital B. Actually, probably need a capital E, G, I, and N in there as well.lol
I guess it's about getting in touch with yourself. And listening to your inner voice. And trusting instincts. Something I need to do more of. As a very well informed source has told me, angel cards are also called oracle cards, and they are positive cards which you shuffle and place down for a reading and then you try to make out what it is you're being told. Just think オーラの泉.lol Correct me if I'm wrong, Kelly!

Passing go

Just a reminder that today is Monday!
Which means, if you're doing the Monday-Sunday budget like me, it's the 'pass go and collect 200 dollars' day.
Or in simpler terms, the 'forget about what happened to your budget last week and start afresh day'.

It's interesting to hear what other people do (or don't do) and I'm having a lot of fun writing about the topic so I think a Being thrifty (Part 2) post will be coming soon! Some points probably deserve a post of their own so might do that too. Wow, for someone who was having writers block the other day I seem to be on fire and posting like crazy!!lol

Being thrifty (Part 1)

Lily, if you're out there reading I would really love to hear your opinion on all this!!

Let me just start off by saying here that it has taken a lot of time (years!) and effort to get the food budget to where it is now. If you told me what we spend now way back when we first got married I would have laughed and said it was impossible. I mean we used to spend over 10,000 yen a week on groceries when it was just the two of us!

That was only until I found out about 家計簿, which I have posted about before here and here, and read the stories in the magazine that came with it. I realised that we were spending way too much and that there were LOTS of 主婦 out there with 2 or 3 kids spending less and eating a lot better (and bigger size!) meals than we were doing at the time. Anyone interested should check out magazines like おはよう奥さん or サンキュ. You can see that they do articles on this kind of thing every month, and the people spend a lot less than what I do!!! 50 yen or 100 yen おかず, how to freeze properly, how to feed 4 people dinner with just 500 yen, and other mind boggling figures!lol

So obviously I can't compete with them, and I just do my own thing, but occasionally I get out some of the menu books and freezing techniques and 使い切り ideas that have come with magazines in the past, and put them to use!

Due to popular demand, our meals are usually Japanese style, a bit like a 定食 I guess. There is usually a main dish (some type of meat or fish with veges), and usually (but not always!) 2 subs (more vege dishes and other things like tofu), rice, pickles (たくあん, 梅干し and 高菜 are popular with B at the moment), and some kind of soup (usually miso). B and S nearly always finish off with 納豆 (nattou) or たまごかけごはん which I don't class as a sub (only cause I don't eat it!). Noone ever goes hungry, and that's the most important thing!! Most things are made from scratch, although I do cheat sometimes!lol I try to eat a little of a lot, and I also like using lots of different ingredients at the one meal.

Most of the things I'm going to list here are pretty much second nature for me now, but I guess they could seem a bit overwhelming if you've never tried to reduce spending before. Please keep in mind that generally speaking fruit and veges are dirt cheap where we live, and are no comparison for the price I was paying for them when we lived in Shizuoka.

So things I try to do, a lot of them just common sense:

• Don't overbuy. Usually I check the fridge and cupboards before going shopping and write a list of what I need.



• Before setting foot out the door I check the net for チラシ details, and decide which supermarket best suits my needs for that day. There is a great site here where you just put in your post code and heaps of pamphlets come up for your area.



• Buy frozen things on half price day (I use the site above to check out when the sales are on). Generally speaking I don't buy too much frozen stuff, but I do buy 和風野菜ミックス and 餃子(for the times I can't be bothered making them from scratch).



• Use point cards. I also find things to be a lot cheaper on the days that they have triple point days. So pay less, and get more points than usual. Win win situation!lol



• Use private brand things. Curry roux and juice I buy from 7-11 (the curries they sell are made by House and S&B by the way, and taste better than the 'real' stuff if you ask me!), tomato sauce or canned tomatoes I use supermarket own brands.



• I have a general idea in my head of what I buy, and where.



• I buy milk, bread, cheese, yoghurt and nappies at Cosmos (a drugstore but they sell food too, ice cream is always 30% off, frozen stuff is always at least 40% off), a 5 minute walk away.



• I buy fresh veges mainly from a 直売 place also 5 minutes walk away, a bit like a 道の駅 I guess. Just to give you an idea, you can buy a HUGE thing of spinach for between 80-100 yen. The supermarket which is next door (while not that expensive) would be at least double for the same size. Or 大根 for about 100 yen. I got half a 白菜 the other day for 70 yen, about 12 small mikans for 220 yen, and things like ネギ are usually between 90-120 yen, but the sizes seem to be more generous than other stores.



• I buy carrots (and usually onions and potatoes too) in bulk from a different supermarket about 10 minutes away by car, and then peel all the carrots, cut them in different shapes and sizes, half cook them in the microwave and then freeze them all. I pay 19 yen per 100g for the carrots, so if you do the math 190yen for 1 kg, as opposed to say 150 yen for 3 carrots which is how they're sold everywhere else.



• Think about and write out meal plans (not all the time though)



• Use the delivery shopping people which although a little more expensive in general, stops me from just buying stuff on a whim like I might do if I was at the supermarket, and also makes me plan meals better.



• I have a price in my head of what I think something should cost, and if it's more than that I think twice about whether or not I really need to buy it that day, or whether I can wait another day or two, and then be flexible about it. Maybe it's not such a good example, but just say I want to buy tofu for a nabe. I know I can buy a 3 pack of 豆腐 more often than not for around 100 yen (from a local maker that I like), but sometimes it might have gone up to 140-150 yen, so I'd skip the 豆腐 that day and check out the prices of 厚揚げ (atsuage) or something instead. It's still 豆腐, just a different kind. Either can be used in the nabe.



• I haven't really found anywhere that sells meat cheaper if you buy in bulk, but if it's on sale I usually buy 1kg or so of whatever it is and freeze it when I get home. If meat is marked down and looks ok, I would buy it and freeze it as soon as I got home too.



• Also I check the marked down sections for fruit, veges and dairy at the supermarket and if there's something there I was planning on using that night then I would buy it. It really depends on the supermarket though, sometimes I wouldn't poke what's in there with a stick!lol That said, there's one supermarket who has their dairy marked down, and ham and things too, even when there's still a long time before the use-by date. It's a 24 hour store, so I guess they just have a lot of stock. But I never buy marked down veges there. I have a different supermarket up my sleeve for that!lol



• I use a discount store to buy dry groceries. Things like packs of udon, furikake, nori, sauces, sugar, tea and lots of other things. There is a MaxValu supermarket next to the store I go to, but the discount store sells the exact same products a LOT cheaper. Like the furikake is 220 yen at the supermarket but 170 yen at the discount store. That's 50 yen on something that is only a little over 200 yen in the first place! So it all adds up. Seriously, it does.



• I also buy things made locally. I always buy hotcake mix, flour, tofu, nattou, udon, and pickles from Kumamoto makers (mainly because I like the taste, but also because that's what is mainly sold at the supermarket).



• To be honest though, I try not to buy things for the sole reason that it's the cheapest. Or because it's on sale. It's only any good to me if it's on sale and it's something I need.



• And lastly, some things I won't budge on, no matter what the price is. I buy what I consider to be relatively good eggs, I check labels, try to pick things which don't use preservatives, and just try to be sensible about things.

Wow that turned into an epic post!
Maybe I don't need a Part 2 afterall!lol